Interac e-Transfer and Fraud Prevention

Using Interac e-Transfer is a simple, convenient and secure way to send money from your bank to another person or organization bank account.

When you use Interac e-Transfer to send or receive funds to or from family, friends or trusted organizations, it is safe. No personal financial information is shared and your account information remains private. The funds sent or received never travels by email or text message. Email and text messages are only used to notify the recipient and provide instructions on how to accept the transfer.

But before conducting an e-transfer or receiving an Interac e-Transfer from someone you don’t know, think twice – it could be a scam. Fraudsters can trick people into sending an Interac e-Transfer and, once the money is sent, it’s gone. Fraudsters can also trick people into accepting a fraudulent Interac e-Transfer in order to capture your account or card information.

Preventing Intercepted e-Transfer Fraud

Intercepted e-Transfer Fraud happens when you send an e-Transfer to someone but the that person has had their email compromised by a fraudster. Instead of the funds getting to the intended receiver, funds are intercepted by the fraudster.

Don’t sacrifice security for convenience. Select a question and answer that is hard to guess.

Register for e-Transfer Autodeposit. This makes the transfer more secure.

Do not communicate security questions via email. Criminals may have access to the email account.

Security Tips When Using Interac e-Transfer

Interac e-Transfer is useful, even when you have not met the person, like buying something from an online ad. Although it is easy to send the e-Transfer right away, keep these simple tips in mind when you do not know the person:

Meet the seller face-to-face.

Do not include the answer to the security question in the question.

If looking at leasing a rental unit, visit the unit before sending money.

Do not disclose the Interac e-Transfer reference number (starts with CA) to anyone even if they ask.

Use vigilance at all times – remember, once an Interac e-Transfer is accepted by the recipient it cannot be reversed.